Thus, do not become complacent and think that no one could ever influence you. (Compare 1 Corinthians 10:12.) Most likely it is already happening—more frequently than you might care to admit—without your even noticing. Take the simple example of what product you decide to buy when you go shopping. Is that always a purely personal, rational decision? Or do other people, often unseen, subtly but powerfully affect your choice? Investigative journalist Eric Clark thinks they do. “The more we are bombarded by advertising,” he says, “the less we notice, and yet, almost certainly, the more we are affected.” He also reports that when people are asked how effective they feel advertising is, “most agree that it works, but not on them.” People tend to feel that everyone else is vulnerable, but they are not. “Alone, it seems, they are immune.”—The Want Makers.

It can be quite effective depending upon techniques used. Yes, it is indoctrination. Many people mindlessly believe the media. They allow it to think for them, so it tells them what to think and most of all what to buy. An example of the indoctrination can be observed with Rolex watches. Rolex spends nearly twice as much money on ads as any other watch brand and has long had a huge publicity campaign. Whenever you buy a Rolex watch, you pay over $1500 for the ads on it. As a result of all this massive PR, many people imagine that Rolex is the best and costliest watch brand. Actually, it is a mass-produced entry level luxury brand. Rolex has 2000 workers who produce 1,000,000 watches each year. That means, an average of four hours is spent on each watch. Patek Philippe is a really top level brand, and it has 2000 workers, just as Rolex does, but it produces 45,000 watches per year, so it has can spend an average of 89 hours on each watch. In 2017, Rolex's most basic steel sports watch cost $5050, while a comparable Patek Philippe cost $26,800. Rolex's most complicated watch is an annual calendar for $38,500 in gold. Patek Philippe's most complicated watch is a minute repeater-tourbillon-perpetual calendar that cost about $1,100,000 a few years ago. The costliest brand overall without diamonds is Richard Mille. His cheapest watch cost $67,000 lately, and his costliest one cost $1,939,000. As for watches with many diamonds, Graff made one that sold for $55,000,000 and another one that cost $40,000,000.

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